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Aaron Doral
as Aaron Doral]] Aaron Doral (Number Five) is a fictional character from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. Doral is a humanoid Cylon (designated model Number Five)Downloaded (Battlestar Galactica) who first appeared as a civilian public relations specialist aboard Galactica just prior to the Cylon attack on the Colonies. Through conversation with the Cylon agent Number Six, Dr. Gaius Baltar claims Doral is a Cylon spy and has him thrown in the brig. Gaius does so to protect himself and justify the finding of a Cylon device he has noticed, Doral actually being a spy is mere coincidence. Doral emphatically denies being a Cylon. However, not willing to take a chance, Doral is abandoned by Commander Adama on the Ragnar Anchorage weapons depot. At the time of abandonment, Doral exclaims his innocence, and claims to be from Oasis, outside Caprica City, and having been on Kobol College on Gemenon. The audience is shown that Baltar was correct in assuming Doral a Cylon, four copies of Doral, along with Number Six, Leoben Conoy, and Sharon come to his rescue. (In the novelization, Doral is a sleeper agent - he does not know he is a Cylon until the others come for him at Ragnar Anchorage.) Doral appears again on Cylon-occupied Caprica curiously monitoring the situation developing between Sharon and Karl "Helo" Agathon. He initially decides that Sharon cannot be trusted, and orders Number Six to deal with her. Once Doral discovers that Sharon is pregnant, he states the child is a miracle, and must be protected at all costs. The discovery also leads to his suggesting a major tactical change, although the details of this new plan, as well as whatever changes were made from the original, have as yet to be clearly defined in the series. The Doral Cylons seem to act more covertly, having an unassuming "average" appearance in order to better blend in with more trivial background matters instead of taking more noticeable positions of authority and purpose. He seems to have a position of authority among the Cylons, acting as overseer, and having a hand behind their decision making and tactical planning. This personalization is contradicted, however, in the special TV movie "The Plan," in which a copy of Cavil berates a confused Doral copy (wearing clothing nearly identical to the first copy encountered by the Colonials) for his lack of disguise and caution while wandering the halls of Galactica. A later scene shows a small group of Doral copies assigned to menial labor on occupied Caprica, doing work they complain is below them and should be handled by centurions. Likewise, in the episode "Downloaded," a copy of Doral can be seen serving drinks to other humanoid Cylons. These scenes seem to imply the Doral models are of lower intelligence than other Cylon models, and possess less authority. The Doral Cylons appear to be more fanatical, militant and cold-hearted than the other humanoid Cylons encountered thus far, short of the often vile, overtly vicious Brother Cavil. They calmly discuss the genocide of mankind (stating on one occasion "They humans would have destroyed themselves anyway. They deserve what they got."), and unhesitatingly conducting (on at least one occasion) a suicide bombing aboard Galactica."Litmus On the other hand, Doral was highly critical of the human suicide bombers in "Occupation" who inflicted Cylon casualties and fatalities, lambasting them for a 'lack of nobility'. In "Torn" a Number Eight accuses Doral of "barely even being able to say God's name." PR Executive Copy Doral appears to be exactly what he claims when first seen in the Miniseries: a PR executive. He coordinates the ceremony surrounding Galactica's decommissioning and transfer to the civilian authorities represented by Secretary of Education Laura Roslin. During the lead-up to the ceremony, he mocks Galactica as antiquated and advocates automated defense systems (which would be more vulnerable to Cylon interference). In the role of PR executive, Doral is efficient, polite and able to carry out his work without ruffling the feathers of those around him, while at the same time marshaling and managing the media. He usually wears an emerald suit and tie. When Laura Roslin, as senior government official, takes charge of Colonial Heavy 798 during the Cylon attack, Doral immediately objects to her leadership immediately after her announcement to the passengers of the nuclear attacks on the various colonies ("Wait a minute...who put you in charge?"). Later, Doral tries to convince Lee Adama to assume the leadership role from Roslin. Captain Adama witnesses and supports Roslin and her leadership decisions, which quickly puts Doral in his place. Following Gaius Baltar's arrival on Galactica, Doral becomes the fall-guy Baltar needs to divert any suspicions he feels may otherwise be directed at him following the Cylon incursion into the Twelve Colonies. In this, he is partially steered by Number Six - although the selection of Doral as his fall-guy appears to be Baltar's own choice by educated guess. Arrested and thrown into the brig, Doral loudly proclaims his innocence of all charges, citing his background and upbringing: that he was born in Oasis, a hamlet near Caprica City, and grew up on the south side of Caprica City itself before going to Gemenon, where he studied public relations at the Kobol Colleges. Later, after being left at the Ragnar Anchorage space station, Doral exhibits all of the symptoms initially shown by the humanoid Cylon Leoben Conoy, confirming the fact that he is a Cylon and that, however "coincidentally," Baltar selected the "right" man. Despite his protestations of innocence, and the palpable level of fear he demonstrates within the brig, it is unlikely (based on later characterizations of humanoid Cylons who infiltrate the Fleet) that this Doral copy is a "sleeper" Cylon. Unlike Sharon "Boomer" Valerii, this Doral knew of his true nature. He is rescued and debriefed by a group of his fellow humanoid Cylons, including another Number Five (Miniseries). Suicide Bomber Copy .]] A copy of Doral also turns up on ''Galactica and is advised by Brother Cavil to act as a suicide bomber ("Litmus", "The Plan"). Supplied with explosives stolen from a small-arms locker and used to create a primitive bomb, he detonates in a corridor of the ship after being spotted and challenged by William Adama. At the time of the explosion, Starbuck suggests that Doral's intended target was Gaius Baltar. There is little direct evidence to back-up Starbuck's claim. Sergeant Hadrian's investigation into the matter establishes that the small arms locker used by Doral is located relatively close to the flight pod (where Doral would have come aboard). Therefore, the fact that the locker and Baltar's lab resided on the same deck may have been coincidental. Doral appears to spend some time wandering through the ship before detonating his bomb, which suggests he may have been looking for a target of opportunity, such as a command staff member or sensitive area such as CIC (Litmus). This copy of Doral is implied to be rather unintelligent. Cavil berates him for walking around in the open wearing his trademark flashy suit and, more importantly, the face of a man left for dead. Doral takes issue with Cavil's criticism, citing that the Number Five marooned on Ragnar wore a burgundy suit, while he wears a teal suit. Cavil is stupefied by the response. Some weeks after his suicide, the prostitute Six with whom Cavil was collaborating mocked Doral's lack of intelligence and how he blew himself up in the middle of a deserted hallway in a tactically unimportant part of Galactica (The Plan). Caprican Overseer Copy On Caprica, Number Five performs the role of a Cylon overseer, working with Number Six to ensure their experiment involving the stranded Karl Agathon and Caprica copy of Sharon Valerii either reaches its desired conclusion, or is suitably terminated ("Bastille Day", "Litmus", "Flesh and Bone", "Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down"). He wears a red suit, more utilitarian than that of his PR executive counterpart. In this, Five shows a harder attitude towards humans than Six. When she expresses regret that the destruction of humanity was necessary in order for the Cylons to achieve their ends, he is not so forgiving: :Six: "This all makes me so sad." :Five: (matter-of-fact) "They would have destroyed themselves anyway. They deserve what they got." :Six: "We're the children of humanity. That makes them our parents in a sense." :Five: "True - but parents have to die. It's the only way children come into their own." ::-- Bastille Day Later, however, when Six is disdainful of Valerii's apparent feelings for Agathon when the Caprican experiment goes awry, Five is more sympathetic, wondering what it must be like to be driven by passion that marks Agathon's action: "Even in his anguish he seemed....so alive" (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down). Other Copies In "Final Cut", a Number Five is one of the Cylons that watches D'Anna Biers's broadcast. He comments that the life of Sharon and Helo's hybrid child must be protected at all costs. Several copies of Number Five are seen on Cylon-occupied Caprica throughout "Downloaded", the episode that reveals that he is the fifth in the sequence of twelve Cylon models. A Five is one of the four 'rebirth nurses' that welcome first Caprica-Six and (much) later ''Galactica''-Sharon, the "Heroes of the Cylon" back to life after their respective downloads into new bodies. He tells Boomer that the Cylons are proud of her. Another copy is serving coffee at the cafe which is bombed by Samuel Anders's resistance group, while yet another rescues "Caprica" and Sharon from the ruins of a garage later the same day. Fives are also seen digging mass graves for human casualties on Caprica by Samuel Anders and Jean Barolay. A Five is part of the leading group during the invasion of New Caprica, along with the aforementioned "Heroes of the Cylon". Fitting his personality archetype, this Five is quite direct in his insistence that the Colonials surrender without resistance to the Cylon armada (Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II). The humanoid Cylon leading the force of Centurions outside the temple on New Caprica is not seen, but is identifiable as a Five by his voice (The Resistance: Episode 4). A Five is found and recovered from the infected basestar by Galactica, intending to be a part of the plan to infect the entire Cylon race with a virus spawned from an ancient probe. However, just before they are within download range of a Resurrection Ship, he and the other prisoners are killed by Karl Agathon, thus killing the Cylons permanently (A Measure of Salvation). The Fives side with the Ones and the Fours in the decision to lobotomize the Raiders after they defied the humanoid Cylons' wishes at the Ionian Nebula. Two of them are shot in the conference room by Centurions whose telencephalic inhibitors have been removed by Natalie's faction (Six of One). Several Fives are present to prevent the rescue of Hera, and attack the Colonials. One sneaks up behind a couple of Marines that include Sharon Agathon and her husband, shooting and wounding him. Another is seen in the CIC with Cavil during the finale's climax. Both are killed in a firefight that erupts after a truce brokered by Gaius Baltar and the Final Five collapses. All Fives aboard the Colony perish when it is consumed by the black hole it is orbiting. (Daybreak, Part II) Notes *Doral is the name of a recently formed city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was formerly a census-designated place, named for a golf and resort spa within its boundaries. The resort was orignally named for its builders 'Dor'is and 'Al'fred Kaskel. Doral is also the name of a popular cigarette brand. References External links * Number Five at the Battlestar Wiki. Category:Battlestar Galactica (2003) characters Category:Cylons Category:Fictional secret agents and spies Category:Fictional robots Category:Fictional cyborgs Category:2003 introductions